Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter said she was suspended Thursday by Barnard College after refusing to leave an encampment set up on campus in support of Gaza.
Isra Hirsi, 21, said she received notice that she and at least two other students were suspended for “standing in solidarity with Palestinians facing a genocide,” Hirsi wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Hirsi, an organizer with a student group that advocates for Palestinians, said this was her first time being punished as a student activist in her three years at the New York City school.
“Those of us in Gaza Solidarity Encampment will not be intimidated,” she wrote.
The suspension and protests underscore tensions that have been growing on campuses at universities across the United States since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict last fall.
Barnard said it had temporarily suspended some Columbia and Barnard students who refused multiple written and verbal requests to leave an unauthorized tent encampment on Columbia’s South Lawn on Thursday morning.
There are more than 100 people occupying the area, Columbia University’s president, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, said in a memo to police.
“I have determined that the encampment and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University,” the memo said.
Shafik said the demonstrators were trespassing, refusing to disperse and damaging campus property, among other violations.
“Columbia is committed to allowing members of our community to engage in political expression — within established rules and with respect for the safety of all,” the memo said.
Barnard did not say how many students were suspended or confirm that Hirsi was among them. It did not say how long the suspension would last but said it would continue to suspend students who stay.
“Now and always, we prioritize our students’ learning and living in an inclusive environment free from harassment,” the school said in a memo about the suspensions.
Hirsi could not be immediately reached for comment.
Omar did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Democrat, who represents Minnesota, is a Somali refugee who made history as one of the first two Muslim American women elected to Congress.
On Wednesday, Omar questioned Shafik about protests on campus during a congressional hearing in which Shafik strongly denounced antisemitism.
Omar told Shafik she was “appalled” to learn that Columbia suspended six students earlier this month for their involvement in a pro-Palestinian panel event on campus.
“There has been a recent attack on the democratic rights of students across the country,” Omar said.
Tensions over free speech have erupted on some U.S. college campuses since the war between Hamas and Israel started in October 2023.
This week, the University of Southern California canceled a Muslim student’s valedictorian speech out of security concerns. Last week, a University of California, Berkeley, professor confronted a Muslim student during a dinner for graduating law students.
In a statement Thursday, Shafik said she authorized police to clear the encampment “out of an abundance of concern” for safety on campus.
The New York Police Department said it has so far arrested three people at the encampment, ages 26, 30 and 35.
By late Thursday afternoon, police had disassembled the original tent encampment, but protestors were beginning to build a new one on an adjacent lawn.
